Adam Wong became a filmmaker while an exchange student at the University of Iowa, borrowing the campus' cameras and editing equipment to direct his first short films. Upon returning to Hong Kong, he taught creative media at Hong Kong Polytechnic University as a visiting lecturer while directing making-of featurettes for films by Peter Chan and Sylvia Chang. His first feature was When Beckham Met Owen, about two 13-year-old boys whose love of soccer unites them. His second feature, Magic Boy, is a Mongkok-set youth romance that takes place in the world of amateur magicians. Wong spent the next four years looking for an investor to finance his third feature, The Way We Dance. The film also captured the spirit of youth with its tale of hip-hop street dancers. It was an unexpected box office hit on release in the summer of 2013, scoring more than HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) at the Hong Kong box office. With She Remembers, He Forgets, he enters a more mature phase of his career.

The daughter of an English teacher who herself trained and worked as a nurse, Miriam Yeung epitomizes the anything-is-possible spirit of Hong Kong. Since winning third prize in a TVB singing competition in 1995, Yeung has released 40 albums, acted in 35 feature films and become one of Hong Kong's leading charity ambassadors. After starting her movie career in 1998 in James Yuen's Rumble Ages, Yeung became a major box office draw in 2001-2 with her charismatic performances as quirky girl-next-doors in three offbeat comedies directed by Joe Ma: Feel 100% II, Dummy Mommy Without a Baby and Love Undercover. Her new prominence was recognized at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, where she was presented with the Most Popular Artiste Award. For several years she balanced a career refining her natural skill as a comedienne while challenging herself in more demanding roles, including Fruit Chan's dark horror Dumplings in 2004. However, unable to find a persona that again resonated with Hong Kong audiences, she focused on her music career. She found that reconnection in 2010 — after a turning point in her personal life: marriage — when she started a creative partnership with Pang Ho-cheung, taking both their careers to another level. In the 18-rated romance Love in a Puff, Yeung played foul-mouthed cosmetics salesgirl Cherie who starts a relationship with an advertising executive after city-wide smoking regulations throw the chain-smokers together. Two years later, Yeung won Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards for the more poignant Beijing-set follow-up, Love in the Buff, also a major box office hit in both Hong Kong and mainland China. Yeung has continued to work with Pang, most notably on Aberdeen, and with another chronicler of modern Hong Kong, Johnnie To, on Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2. In 2015, two decades after launching her entertainment career, Yeung headlined the biggest local hit of the year, Little Big Master, based on the true story of a kindergarten teacher fighting for the education of five underprivileged kids in the New Territories. At this year's NYAFF, we present her newest film, Adam Wong's ambitious mid-life crisis romantic drama She Remembers, He Forgets.